Feedback Questions:
1. What do you get from this video?
2. There is a very slight attempt at a more classical abhinaya facial expression at 0:40. What do you think? Does it stand out from the rest? Should I exclude or include this style into the video?
3. Is there too much text? Do you need more breaks, pauses, spaces, less text, differently placed, music?
4. Anything else?
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1. An unadorned South Asian woman. Brown-skinned against an all-white background. Focused, serious gaze. Eating. Listening? Eating blueberries. Voiceover of a colonial account of the nautch. Slow build to stained mouth mouth too full gagging retching too much. Bibhatsa rasa.
ReplyDeleteAt times you appear to be listening to the text. At other times, it seems like perhaps the text might refer to you (mostly because you look South Asian) -- in these instances the contrast between the super-decorated accounts and your stark, unadorned state is very clear. I have a pretty visceral reaction to the retching (my gag reflex is sensitive), which makes it hard to look at. The staining of your skin and the half-chewed berries dripping out of your mouth are striking (and gross!) images.
2. I do think it stands out from the rest, so if you're interested in pursuing the more classical abhinaya path, it might be nice to thread it throughout more consistently. I personally like the pedestrian task-based approach, mostly because it has none of the "prettiness" associated with classical Indian dance. I am guessing that using more classical facial expressions would implicate your body as a classically trained dancer more and create a tighter relationship between the text and your body, which is somewhat ambiguous right now.
3. It is hard for me to take in all the text (particularly the first two paragraphs). I sometimes feel like I am making choices about whether to pay attention to your image or to the text (I usually choose your image). However, I also get the general bent of the text fairly quickly, so it doesn't bother me too much that I don't absorb every word. I do really appreciate the pauses that give me some space to just look at your image. I appreciate the slow pace and sense of stretched-out time that the consistent tempo of the reading gives me, which makes the over-eating at the end more impactful. I don't think music is necessary.
4. The piece brings up questions about the relationship between consuming and the colonial male gaze and you. In a context where brown female dancing bodies are often the objects of exotifying consuming gazes, what does it mean that you are the one doing the consuming? Is it an auto-exoticization that makes you feel ill? Or just learning of the history of the dance that provokes a sense of disgust? What does it mean that over-consuming makes you retch, stains you, induces a vomit-like response? Perhaps this is just my own random association, but the gagging also makes me think of fellatio, deep-throating, whether to spit or swallow ...
FROM BABLI:
ReplyDelete1. Contrasts and confusions:
High contrast video
White background, your (brown) body/Black hair in foreground-
Female – wearing t-shirt I associate with “toughness”
You assume position of spectator, but seem like a dancer
Unadorned, text describing adornment
Text sounds like it is written from male perspective, but I am not sure- read by your female voice confuses the tone of the description, your female gaze, where I am not sure if you are listening, or if you are watching something and the text is like a description of what you see….
I call them confusions, but they are productive confusions!
The visceral level is the eating- resonating as consumption, but taken to an extreme, to the point of undoing the “clean” clear aesthetic before- stark white/brown- clam face, deliberate voice and movement.
The stuffing too many berries in your mouth is a very strong image, evokes a visceral response in me- and it confuses, again, the subtext of consumption-overconsumption? Too much beauty, too much sweetness? Disgust? In this case I feel like I could use another clue……
2. It does not stand out to me, in fact I had to search for it after I read the question!
If you are interested in the contrast you might want to play with it- it might add to the productive confusion of who is watching, who is listening, who are you?
3. I like the continuity of the text, the deliberate slow pace, the fact that the description seems unabridged to me.
I missed a lot of the meaning in the first part, because I think it took me a while to get used to the image and atmosphere you were creating
While I do wonder if I missed something crucial in the beginning and while I am curious about what I missed, I also feel I understand the perspective of the text, what the text is doingearly enough where having missed the beginning does not take away from me enjoying the piece.
4. It is REALLY engaging, I REALLY think its powerful and you are on to something
1. What do you get from this video?
ReplyDeleteI interpreted you as a South Asian male courtier/prince/or even commoner watching the spectacle of the Nautch dancers that are mentioned in the text, smiling with a sense of entitlement, eyes sometimes glazed over, sometimes enjoying the dancers with your gaze - even though the text didn't seem to impressed by them. I saw the watching of the nautch dancers, paralleled by the actual devouring of the berries, like popcorn at a movie. When you overindulged, gagged, etc. it made me feel even more that your character had a strong sense of entitlement and ownership over what you were looking at and a simultaneous disregard for its aesthetic value. The value of the dancers/berries seemed to be in your ability to consume them, but not in any real appreciation of their taste/skill. The lack of appreciation for the skill also came from my hearing the text. I also feel like the text, from a British male point of view, could have been judging you, as a South Asian "native", for enjoying these dancers, whose value he doesn't understand and saw as boring for the most part except when there was a pretty face attached.
2. There is a very slight attempt at a more classical abhinaya facial expression at 0:40. What do you think? Does it stand out from the rest? Should I exclude or include this style into the video?
I don't think it was that different. I enjoyed it because it really looked like you were looking at something and having a reaction (seemed like a glimmer of appreciation for the dancing body in front of you, or perhaps it was just desire for her). to me it was similar to the other moments where you had a glimmer of a smile. I would be interested to see what would happen if you tried inserting more. I'm not sure. It might make your character more refined seeming or maybe more slimy. It probably would depend on each viewer's interpretation.
3. Is there too much text? Do you need more breaks, pauses, spaces, less text, differently placed, music?
I think I was able to hear most of the text but not all. I appreciated the pauses, for it allowed me to connect your character to what I was hearing in the text. Right now I appreciate the stark white background and your voice with an almost drone like quality. It could be interesting to experiment with repeating lines or emphasizing things that you really want us to hear or connect the visual to.
4. Anything else?
This is a really powerful image!